Both Tickets Pushing 'Change'

FLINT, Mich., Sept. 8, 2008— -- Voters looking for candidates with a message of change could find they have a tough choice come November.

While Barack Obama and John McCain were both expressing concern today about the economic fallout over the federal takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it became clear that the two shared more than just their anxiety about the economy.

It seems both presidential candidates are running on a "change" platform.

During a "Road to Victory" rally in Lee's Summit, Mo., today, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin stepped out of the motorcade and onto the bandwagon.

Referring to McCain, the Alaska governor and former mayor said that "in politics there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those like John McCain who use their career to promote change."

The Arizona senator returned her praise, saying that she too had taken on the "old bulls" in her party, but that his colleague in the Senate had not.

The McCain camp today launched another national advertisement entitled "Original Mavericks." The ad highlights McCain's and Palin's reform efforts and the "real" changes they have imposed during their political careers. The 30-second spot touts the pair's fearless approach to reform, and that the running mates will both make history and change Washington.

During a town hall meeting in Flint, Obama called out his Republican challengers for their adoption of the "change" platform, and jokingly referred to McCain as the "no change express."

"John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, at the convention asserted that they were the agents of change," the Illinois senator told the crowd.

"You can't just recreate yourself," he continued.

"When she was mayor, she hired a Washington lobbyist to get earmarks -- pork barrel spending. All the things that John McCain says is bad, she lobbied to get. And got a whole lot of it," he said.

"When it came to the 'Bridge to Nowhere,' she was for it until everybody started raising a fuss about it and she started running for governor and then suddenly she was against it," Obama said.

"'For it before you were against it'? I mean you can't just make stuff up," he said.

American women, however, have an overwhelmingly favorable view of Palin, despite the attempt of Joe Biden, Obama's vice presidential running mate, to paint her as an extremist during an event in Green Bay, Wis.

"Her views on everything from global warming to other things as presented are pretty far out there," the Delaware senator said.

According to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll, McCain is now pulling ahead of his Democratic counterpart, 49 percent to 47 percent, among likely voters, though Obama still leads 47 percent to 46 percent among registered voters.

The former prisoner of war leads Obama on the trail for now, but the two will put aside partisan politics Thursday for a joint event in New York City commemorating the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Later on Thursday, Obama will sit down with former President Clinton for lunch, and Palin will see her son Track off to Iraq.

ABC News' Jennifer Duck, Andy Fies, Avery Miller and Natalie Gewargis contributed to this report.